Miho Azuki
Miho Mashiro (née Azuki) (Born November 5, 1993 in Saitama-ken, Japan), is a voice actress and the girlfriend of Moritaka Mashiro who later becomes his wife at the end of the series (she promised to marry Mashiro once their dreams come true, kissing him and accepting a proper marriage proposal when they do) and the best friend of Kaya Miyoshi. Appearance Miho is described by Akito Takagi as one of the most beautiful girls in Yakusa Jr. High chest-length dark brown hair that has square bangs, brown eyes and her clothing tastes are rather simple and feminine. Personality & Character Miho is a shy girl with the ambition to become a successful seiyu (voice actress). While her reasons and motivations to become a seiyu are unclear, it was a dream that was reinforced by the ambitions of Ashirogi Muto. Both she and Moritaka Mashiro fell in love with each other at a very young age. Although they both had mutual feelings for each other, they're also mutually very shy and embarrassed in the matters of love. It wasn't until Moritaka was encouraged by Akito Takagi to announce their publishing ambitions to Miho that he accidentally blurted out his desire to marry her if they become successful. Although shocked at first, she happily agreed to his proposal: they'll get married when she becomes the leading seiyu in his manga that will become animated. Her reasons for such a strict requirement was because they both had such strong feelings that it would become a severe distraction towards each other. Taking an extreme form of delayed gratification, Miho hopes that it would be enough to allow the two of them to become successful in their careers without becoming emotionally compromised over each other's feelings. However, it was not without its challenges. As noted by her manager, Miho isn't one to raise her voice. She only does so in rare instances when she needs to get her point across when being ignored. Skills & Abilities Miho is a trained seiyu (voice actress). Through years of practice and training, she became a top-ranking seiyu; the depth of her abilities are undefined. In her early work, it is revealed that she is not very good at singing, though she subsequently improves through training and practice. In Chapter 172, she showed a knack for reciting lines from memory, due to diligent practice, saying every line the female lead in Reversi said, even getting in depth at the end of the lines, something her fellow voice actresses said was like watching Reversi itself. History Beginnings Miho was examining art entries one day, noticing how well-drawn one of them was. Her mother saw the last name was the same as the Nobuhiro Mashiro's, but kept quiet. Miho then noticed Moritaka Mashiro pass by with a friend, immediately falling in love with him. She later came across him when their schools had a swimming competition; she conveyed her feelings to him in one loving gaze. At that time, Moritaka fell in love with her as well. As if the work of fate, they ended up in the same junior high school and ran into each other again on the first day; both were embarrassed and quickly went on their way. Miho always checked on Moritaka, making sure he didn't see her doing so. Moritaka Mashiro's Proposal When Mashiro came to her house and proposed to her, asking to marry her when their dreams come true, she almost immediately agrees. As she later tells Moritaka Mashiro, she felt like she could die from happiness at this moment. She says they can't see each other until then, but they can email to encourage each other. Graduation On March 13, 2009, Azuki, Moritaka Mashiro, Akito Takagi and Kaya Miyoshi graduated from Yakusa Jr. High. After the ceremony, Mashiro runs to Azuki as she waits half an hour. Mashiro finally asks "How long will you wait for me?" Azuki says she will wait for him "forever". Saint Visual Girls Academy Azuki's first notable voice role is the character Reika Saotomeji in Saint Visual Girls Academy. She had four lines in it, which were "I love you, Erina." She later sings in the ending of it. However, this job lead to a scolding from her father for the outfit she had to wear while singing the ending. She did not want Mashiro to watch the show possibly due to its contents, possibly out of embarrassment. Photo Book Opportunity As Saint Visual Girls Academy concludes, Azuki's agent pressures her to consider releasing a photo book, stating that most of her work opportunities were coming up only because she was physically attractive to casting directors. Though Azuki does not want to release the book, she fears declining the offer will mean that she will be offered fewer roles and becomes deeply distressed. She hides this for Mashiro, until the pressure finaly gets to her; she e-mails him for his opinion. When she receives an indifferent response, Azuki sends another e-mail; if she's going to go through with it, she wants him to see her naked first, reasoning that he won't get upset if she has to take photos in a swimsuit if this occurs. When he attempts calling her, Azuki cries and refuse to speak to him, not wanting the sadness in her voice to reach him. When Takagi calls her home, Azuki learns Mashiro is neglecting his work to rush over to see her. She calls Mashiro, asking him for his honest opinion; hearing that he doesn't want anyone but himself to see her like that, Azuki decides to turn down the photo book and promises Mashiro they would go to the beach one day and take all the pictures they want. Moritaka Hospitalized When Mashiro is hospitalized for malnutrition and overwork, Takagi arranges for Azuki to see Mashiro at the hospital in hopes of persuading him to stop and recover his health. Mashiro is unconvinced by Azuki's arguments, breaking their promise for the first time of not seeing one another. Azuki sees Mashiro's determination and encourages him to continue, even when Takagi fears for Mashiro's health against the pressure from their editors and Mashiro's family to stop. The incident brings Azuki and Mashiro closer together and she continues to visit him in the hospital until he is fully recovered. Through this, their bond deepened as they learned they were both the quiet type and didn't mind it. Oneshots and Tanto Detective Trap gradually falls in the rankings from competing detective manga that have emerged during its absence. It is eventually canceled, forcing Muto Ashirogi to think of a new series. Takagi's attempts to come up with a new idea results in a professional friendship with Yuriko Aoki, which causes misunderstandings between Takagi and Miyoshi, furthered by the reappearance of Aiko Iwase, who still has romantic feelings and a desire to beat Takagi on a professional level. Neither Takagi or Mashiro are willing to tell Miyoshi everything, which results in Azuki trying to learn why Miyoshi is upset from Mashiro. Azuki and Miyoshi begin to find their boyfriends untrustworthy while Mashiro and Takagi believe they have done nothing wrong. During this time, Miyoshi moves in with Azuki during the summer break. The situation is resolved after Takagi proposes to Miyoshi, who befriends Aoki and introduces her to Azuki, who makes up with Mashiro. Ashiroji Muto eventually settle on trying a gag manga called Run, Daihatsu Tanto!, which they grow increasingly dissatisfied with. Frustrated with the manga and how Takagi feels obligated to continue now that he is marrying Miyoshi, Mashiro confides in Azuki, who consoles him and confesses that she's happy that he trusts her with such a secret. She and Mashiro see each other again at Takagi and Miyoshi's wedding. PCP Takagi and Mashiro begin developing Perfect Crime Party, their third manga series. As part of their research and preparation, they execute a perfect crime of their own, swapping a dress that Miyoshi planned to give Azuki for her birthday with a sketch that Mashiro draws of Azuki, and then having Miyoshi's present delivered on the same day. Azuki is delighted with the gift and at Christmas, she gives Mashiro a USB key hidden in a cake containing songs she has sung as a gift. After successfully starting PCP, Muto Ashirogi learn that Azuki has been offered a chance to audition for the heroine of +Natural, the manga written by Aiko Iwase. Because it is a major role, Mashiro doesn't want to influence Azuki's career, but winds up arriving in the studio to spirit Azuki away, unaware that Azuki had already decided to decline the role. Azuki mentions how they have broken their promise several times now, but tells Mashiro that the next time they meet, she wants them to kiss - with the expectation that they will meet again in person when they have fulfilled their dreams. The popularity of PCP eventually results in a novelization and a drama CD, which Mashiro immediately recommends Azuki for the voice of the heroine Mai Annoujou. Azuki accepts the offer after receiving it from her agent, happy to be able to voice one of Mashiro's heroines at last. Love Fiesta Stuck on ideas for his love manga Mashiro calls Azuki. Though shy at first, he explains that his rivaling Eiji and Iwase. Azuki reveals that she fell in love with him at first sight and tells him that she'll assist him in any way to make his love story. Impromptu 12 Azuki voices the manger of Impromptu 12. During her time working on the show, she meets Kitami Ririka. Kitami idolizes Azuki and the two bond. Reversi Azuki hears from Mashiro that Reversi will get an anime. She is overjoyed and decides to call Mashiro. As she talks to Mashiro, she speaks the dialogue of the main heroine of Reversi, which impresses Mashiro. Things looks promising for Azuki to be on Reversi however... Kitami accidentally reveals in her blog that Azuki is in a relationship with one of the guys who make Ashirogi Muto. A sports newspaper uncovers that Azuki's Fiancee is Mashiro and publishes the story in a negative way. This causes an uproar amongst her fans. Many of them begin to destroy her audio or Ashirogi's Jump comics. Ririka apologizes and Azuki accepts her apology. She later appears on her radio show and publicly reveals that she is, in fact, in a relationship with Mashiro. After a few live callers, Mashiro calls the show himself. He declares that he is indeed in a relationship with her and that they should believe in her. The next day, the same newspaper writes a much more supportive story. Despite now having more support for hers and Mashiro's relationship there still remain a lot of people who are against them and who think that she is cheating because her boyfriend is the author of Reversi. The role of Naho in Reversi is to be determined through an audition, at first it seemed like she would be the most likely candidate to get the role, it was later decided by the anime staff with Mashiro's insistence that the role of Naho would be chosen via public audition. Twenty voice actresses (including Miho) will audition before a live web audience and the auditions would run for a week and then people would vote for whom they want to play the role of Naho with the results being announced at the end of the week. During Azuki's turn at the auditions, it seemed as though she made a slight mistake on the script, saying "Schwarz" instead of "Weiss" but the director corrected this saying that the script had a typo, and that in the original manga, it was indeed "Schwarz" and not "Weiss". The other auditioners were still skeptical, saying that Ashirogi had collaborated with her beforehand, showing her which part of the script was wrong, until a veteran voice actress stated that if they asked Azuki to perform a scene from any part of the manga, she would definitely be able to act it out in the same fashion and passion as she did during her audition. With this, they had to accept that Azuki worked hard to learning the original lines from the manga. After waiting til the 27th of April, it was announced that, not only did Azuki win the role of Naho, but that she dominated everyone else, earning 102801 votes. After Miho's casting as Naho for Reversi, Mashiro calls Miho to tell her that once the first episode of Reversi finishes, he'll come over to her house and propose to her. Dreams Come True Finally September 4th arrives and Reversi airs. Miho is overjoyed knowing that her dream has finally come true. At the end of the episode, Mashiro calls Miho to tell her that he's at her house ready to pick her up. Mashiro takes Azuki to her original house, where he first asked Miho to marry him once their dreams came true. Unfortunately, Mashiro does his best to propose but he couldn't muster the strength to do so. Miho walks to the front door and tells Mashiro that, despite the fact that it's been 10 years since they made the promise, Mashiro hasn't changed. Mashiro finally proposes to Miho. Miho accepts Mashiro's proposal and they share a kiss, say that they will always be by each other's side from now on. Relationships Moritaka Mashiro Mashiro Miho's love interest and boyfriend/husband Kaya Miyoshi Kaya is Miho's best friend Akito Takagi Miyuki Haruno Azuki Mina Azuki Quotes *(To Moritaka Mashiro) "Lets concentrate on making our dreams come true, without any distractions." Bakuman Chapter 1, page 55 *(To Moritaka) "I'll wait... I'll wait forever." (Bakuman 14 page, 17-19) *(To Moritaka) "Next time we see each other let's kiss so the next time we see each other will have to be after our dreams comes true." (Bakuman 93 page,3-4) *(To Moritaka) "I'm glad, as I thought, you haven't changed a bit Mashiro. You're just as you were 10 years ago. You became an adult, and you made your dream come true too. Even when everything around you kept on changing, you stayed the same. Mashiro, I'm glad you haven't changed." *(To Moritaka) "From now on we can always be by each other's side." Trivia & Notes *The name Miho 'means "beautiful" (美) ('mi) and "keeping" (保) (ho). *Miho was born on November 5, 1993. This is ironic because in Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's previous work, November 5 is associated with a rather nasty plot developments. *Miho is 152 cm tall and weighs 40 kg according to the chart in Chapter 92. *All of Moritaka Mashiro's female manga character's looks have been based on Azuki. *Interestingly, Miho has only been called "Miho" by Kaya Miyoshi and Miyuki Haruno Azuki (Miho's mother). Moritaka and Akito Takagi refer to Miho as "Azuki" every time they talk about her. *Miho is called "Azu-Kyun" by her fans. *Miho ranked 4th place in Weekly Shonen Jump character popularity polls. Gallery Articles & References Navigation ru:Адзуки Михо Category:Female Characters Category:Bakuman Characters Category:Seiyū